PA daily op-ed praises terrorist as a “heroic Martyr” whose “pure blood and that of his brother Martyrs is an eternal source of light”
Excerpt of an op-ed by Issa Abd Al-Hafiz.
Headline: "Martyr Colonel Muhammad Mahmoud Hamed Kashko"
"Martyr Colonel Muhammad Mahmoud Hamed Kashko, born in Gaza in 1955, grew up in a nationalistic fighting family… He joined ‘the popular liberation forces’ at a young age at the beginning of the 1970s, and afterwards transferred to the Fatah Movement forces and became one of the symbols of military action.
Muhammad Kashko was arrested and imprisoned by Israel's occupation in 1973, sentenced to 12 years (sic., he was originally sentenced to life), and released in 1985 in a prisoner exchange deal…
After he left prison in 1985 he reestablished Fatah's military branch, and was put in administrative detention a number of times because he participated in the blessed first Intifada (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993).
After the arrival of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994, he joined the [PA] Presidential Guard (Force 17) and became known as an exemplary leader…
During the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) he reestablished the Fatah military units, the Al-Asifa Brigade, and was the commander and founder of this [reestablished] brigade.
Abu Kifah (i.e., Kashko) participated in many excellent military operations, and in stopping the Israeli invasions of our land… Colonel Abu Kifah filled a prominent role in leading the military activity in a secret manner that has still not been revealed.
Colonel Abu Kifah died as a Martyr on Sept. 24, 2002, while acting to stop an Israeli invasion of the Al-Zaytoun and Shuja'iya neighborhoods with activity that led to the destruction of three Merkava tanks and the killing of the commander of the Zionist unit with the rank of major general.
He left [the world] at the age of 47, while at the height of his youth and the peak of his struggle activity… in a battle defending our people in the Al-Zaytoun and Shuja'iya neighborhoods, where he was the heroic Martyr, Colonel Muhammad Kashko (Abu Kifah) on the front line… And therefore his pure blood and that of his brother Martyrs is an eternal source of light, and their pure blood is a flame that ignites the struggle and Jihad among our rebelling people…
The heroic Martyr was an example and role model of giving, commitment, and devotion to his homeland and his people… He opened the way towards victory and liberation and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state…
The Martyr recorded fascinating stories of heroism and sacrifice when he went out against the enemy's tanks on the day of the invasion.
Martyr Abu Kifah spent most of his life defending our occupied land and stolen rights. He experienced all of the forms of oppression and aggression, and was arrested more than once and spent long years of his life in the Israeli prisons, and refused to succumb to or accept the reality of the wild occupation.
Our Martyrs… have recorded the most fascinating stories of heroism and self-sacrifice with their blood. They have sacrificed their lives for Palestine and its liberation."
Muhammad Mahmoud Hamed Kashko (Abu Kifah) – Fatah member sentenced to life by Israel in 1974 for a crime whose nature PMW was unable to determine, and released in a prisoner exchange deal in 1985. Following his release, Kashko took part in the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel in which approximately 200 Israelis were murdered (the first Intifada, 1987-1993) and the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005) and was a member of the PA Presidential Guard. Kashko was killed in a confrontation with Israeli soldiers on Sept. 24, 2002.